Daily Archives: June 18, 2011

10,000th Chiricahua leopard frog reared at the Phoenix Zoo to be released by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Release took place in the Tonto National Forest near Payson, AZ. A total of 1,700 frogs were released on August 23,2010.

Are Saudi Women Next? Mai Yamani, Project Syndicate: “The unexpected visibility and assertiveness of women in the revolutions unfolding across the Arab world – in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, and elsewhere – has helped propel what has become variously known as the ‘Arab awakening’ or ‘Arab Spring.’ Major changes have occurred in the minds and lives of women, helping them to break through the shackles of the past, and to demand their freedom and dignity”: here.

September 2011: A two-month-old female elephant calf has been rescued and reunited with its mother after becoming stuck in a tea-garden ditch in Assam, India: here.

July 2011. The owner of an African art store in Philadelphia, Victor Gordon, has been arrested on charges of conspiracy, smuggling and Lacey Act violations related to the illegal importation and sale of African elephant ivory. As part of the government’s investigation, federal agents seized approximately one ton of elephant ivory – one of the largest U.S. seizures of elephant ivory on record: here.

Zoo officials trying to set up the first elephant sperm bank in the US say they hope South Africa will shortly approve a shipment of 16 litres of elephant semen to Pittsburgh Zoo: here.

Like this:

Three months after the March 11 earthquake that devastated northern Japan, the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant is far from over. Yet the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown in the Ukraine has all but disappeared from the media, amid a concerted effort to play down its implications and cover up the underlying causes: here.

TOKYO—Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, said it halted the use of a new system for decontaminating highly radioactive water after levels of radiation in one part of the system rose faster than expected.

The suspension came only five hours after Tepco started operation of the system, which aims to reduce the vast amounts of irradiated water at the facility. The pools of highly radioactive water are a major obstacle to stabilizing the stricken power plant.

The latest hiccup reflects the ongoing struggle to get the reactors stabilized even as Tepco stands by its target of achieving a “cold shutdown” of the three most damaged reactors by mid-January 2012.

Tepco started operation of the new system, which incorporates U.S. and French technology, at 8 p.m. local time Friday, and then halted its use at 12:54 a.m. local time Saturday.

A Tepco spokesman said it is still unclear when it will restart the decontamination system.

The problem stemmed from the levels of radiation in a machine designed to absorb cesium. The radiation levels had reached a stage requiring a change of the filtering cartridges.

Tepco said it found that one of the cartridges was clogged with radioactive sludge and it is now trying to flush down the clogs in order to resume normal operations.

Separately, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said it has verified the implementation of additional safety steps at nuclear power plants in Japan. More than 30 of Japan’s 54 commercial reactors are not in operation because checkups on the plants had not been completed following the March 11 disasters.

The government also implemented additional safety measures in the case of damage to the reactor cores such as steps to prevent hydrogen explosions from happening inside the facilities. In order to resume operation at an idle reactor, local communities around the plants must now sign off on the resumption of service.

On Sunday, the departing US Ambassador, Karl Eikenberry, used a speech to students in the western Afghan city of Herat to rebuke President Hamid Karzai: “”When we hear ourselves being called occupiers and worse, our pride is offended and we begin to lose our inspiration to carry on”: here.

While the media focuses on Obama’s anticipated announcement of a limited withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the US administration is carrying out behind-the-scenes negotiations for permanent bases in the country: here.

Arianna Huffington: I’m in sun-and-creativity-soaked Cannes but can’t stop thinking about Kabul — specifically President Obama’s looming announcement of how many, or how few, troops he is going to bring home from Afghanistan as part of his long-promised start to a complete withdrawal by 2014 (that’s 13 years after the war began, for those keeping score at home). We know that it’s easier to start a war than to finish one — and we are seeing a case study of this in Afghanistan despite the fact that there’s a clear, widespread, and growing consensus on the value of us getting out. Indeed, even as we approach the mere announcement of the pullout, the pushback parade has begun — an aggressive campaign designed to ensure that the number of troops the president brings home is as small as possible: here.

War-weary US citizens were braced for disappointment today as President Barack Obama prepared to set out a “gradual” Afghanistan withdrawal which would see just 10,000 of the 100,000 US soldiers in the country removed within the next year: here.

This video is called: Greeks fear more of the same after cabinet reshuffle.

Rachel Donadio, The New York Times News Service: “The instability rocking Greece this week is the latest manifestation of a troubling new phase in the global financial crisis: political turmoil is sweeping through Europe, toppling governments and threatening to undermine efforts to rescue the financial system and, ultimately, the euro zone itself. It seems likely that Prime Minister George Papandreou of Greece will manage to hold his government together long enough to push through the deep cuts required for his debt-ridden country to receive its next installment of international aid”: here.

Greek Protesters Are Better Economists Than the European Authorities. Mark Weisbrot, The Center for Economic and Policy Research: “Imagine that in the worst year of our recent recession, the United States government decided to reduce its federal budget deficit by more than $800 billion dollars – cutting spending and raising taxes to meet this goal. Imagine that, as a result of these measures, the economy worsened and unemployment soared to more than 16 percent, and then the president pledged another $400 billion in spending cuts and tax increases this year. What do you think would be the public reaction? It would probably be similar to what we are seeing in Greece today, including mass demonstrations and riots, because that is what the Greek government has done”: here.

Pablo Ouziel, Political Thoughts: “Spain, like other European states, continues to implement anti-social-neo-liberal policies with strong opposition from the citizenry. It has been one month since the country’s ‘Indignados’ (Indignant Ones) movement claimed nonviolently sixty city-squares in cities across the country, calling for economic democracy, political justice and peace. Since then, much has happened within Spanish borders, and what is happening there is clearly spreading across Europe, where we have already witnessed social movements making similar demands”: here.

Young and old, working and unemployed marched shoulder-to-shoulder in Madrid today chanting: “Let’s walk together against the crisis and the power of capital”: here.

More evidence is emerging of the use of undercover provocateurs in the vicious police attack on a demonstration in Barcelona last Wednesday: here.